What is it?
Jumper's knee (patellar tendinopathy) is an overuse condition of the patellar tendon, which runs between your kneecap and your shinbone. You feel the pain at the front of your knee, just below the kneecap. The pain increases as you load your knee harder.
Jumping, sprinting and sudden braking put the most demand on this tendon. The condition is common in volleyball, basketball, football and hockey, and more common in men aged 18 to 35 who play a lot of sport. If you play padel or do plenty of jumps and deep squats in the gym, you load the same tendon.
Pain at the front of the knee can have other causes too. If you are not yet sure where your knee pain comes from, see our knee pain page as well.
Common causes
- Lots of jumping, sprinting and braking
- Training more or harder than your tendon is used to
- Weak thigh, glute and calf muscles
- Landings where your knee does most of the work
- Too little recovery time
How we diagnose
We ask when the pain started, which movements bring it on and how you have built up your training. Your physiotherapist then examines your knee and the rest of your leg. Tenderness just below the kneecap, and pain that rises as an exercise gets heavier, fit jumper's knee.
With VALD Force Decks we measure how each leg pushes off and lands, so you can see differences between left and right.
Treatment approach
The foundation is an exercise programme that increases the load on your tendon step by step. You start with heavy, slow strength exercises and work towards faster, more explosive work. You train under supervision in our gym.
Most people do not need to stop sport. Your physiotherapist agrees how much jumping and sprinting your tendon can handle, and adjusts that to your pain during sport and the day after.
Expected recovery
Expect months: most people spend about three months on their exercises. If you have had symptoms for longer, it often takes more time.
You rebuild jumping and sprinting in stages, until both legs push off and land in a similar way on the force plates. Together you then decide when to return to matches.
